Death warrant signed for Miami killer on Death Row since '75

Gov. Rick Scott signed a death warrant Monday for Thomas Knight, one of the longest-serving Death Row convicts in Florida history.

Knight, 62, was sentenced to die in 1975 for the murders of Sydney and Lillian Gans
of Bay Harbor Islands. That death sentence was reversed on appeal, but
later upheld by an appeals court. While at Florida State Prison in
Starke, Knight killed a prison guard, Richard James Burke, in
1980 and that is the crime cited on the death warrant signed by the
governor. Only two other inmates have been on Death Row longer than
Knight. Here's background on his crimes from David Ovalle of The Miami Herald.

After
Knight stabbed prison guard Burke to death, prison officials insisted
on handcuffing all inmates for out-of-cell movements, and inmates
responded by flooding toilets, setting fire to mattresses and other
incidents. Those two weeks in October 1980 are remembered on the
Department of Corrections website as among the "darkest days" in FSP's
history.

While in prison, Knight began using the name Askari Abdullah Muhammad, court documents show, but he's still listed as Thomas Knight on the prison system's website.

Here's
what the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said about Knight's case
just last month: "To learn about the gridlock and inefficiency of death
penalty litigation, look no further than this appeal. Askari Abdullah
Muhammad kidnapped and murdered Sydney and Lillian Gans four decades
ago, in 1974. A Florida jury convicted Muhammad of murder, a Florida
judge sentenced him to death, and the Supreme Court of Florida affirmed
his conviction and sentence on direct appeal. While he awaited state
collateral review, Muhammad killed again; this time, Muhammad murdered a
prison guard because he was upset that he had been denied permission to
meet with a visitor."